Friday, May 24, 2013

Job 7

Job 2:[7] So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
[8] And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
The sun is going down, which in Blake's terminology means we are leaving Eternity to sojourn in this dark dirty world.
Job lies there covered with boils while his wife bows at his feet and give him this awful advice in verses 9 and 10:Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
[10] But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

What did Blake think of this passage?:
"The disease of Shame covers me from bead to feet: I have no hope

Every boil upon my body is a separate & deadly Sin.
Doubt first assaild me, then Shame took possession of me
Shame divides Families. Shame hath divided Albion in sunder!
First fled my Sons, & then my Daughters, then my Wild Animations
My Cattle next, last ev'n the Dog of my Gate. the Forests fled
The Corn-fields, & the breathing Gardens outside separated
The Sea; the Stars: the Sun: the Moon: drivn forth by my disease
All is Eternal Death unless you can weave a chaste
Body over an unchaste Mind! Vala! O that thou wert pure!"

(Jerusalem Plate 21-2; Erdman 166)
The disease he speaks of (boils?) is the false religion that Job has been afflicted with, a legalism instead of love and forgiveness. (He's actually not talking about Job; he's talking about himself, about you and me!)

6 Likewise, I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” says the Lord. “I will let them fall into each other’s hands and into the hands of their king. They will turn the land into a wilderness, and I will not rescue them.”

7 So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter—the flock that was oppressed. Then I took two shepherd’s staffs and named one Favor and the other Union.8 I got rid of their three evil shepherds in a single month.But I became impatient with these sheep, and they hated me, too.9 So I told them, “I won’t be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you die. If you are killed, you are killed. And let those who remain devour each other!”10 Then I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, showing that I had revoked the covenant I had made with all the nations.